Pyrus: Rise Of Darkness

The Sanctuary

The crickets begin their simultaneous chirping just as I crawl into my sleeping sack, kicking off my simple leather boots and brushing my tangled black hair out of my eyes. The stick-and-spruce bow lean-to above my head, I lie my head against the sturdy oak supporting my shelter. As the glowing embers of my fire begin to die, I begin to drift into a sleep. Shortly after though, I am woken by voices.
"Are you sure he's here?" The voice belongs to a girl, I can not tell how old.
"Yes. The embers are fresh. See?" This other voice is also of a girl, but her voice is lighter, softer. My guess is she is younger.
"Humph. I still think you're leading us on a wild goose chase," the first voice grumbles.
The second girl groans. "Look. I don't see any fire starter around. How else could he have lit the fire?"
"Maybe he's sleepin' with it."
"Only one way to find out!"
I try not to gasp. Fumbling in the dark for my knife, the two girls begin walking toward my shelter. I find my knife just as they poke their heads in. One holds out a light, illuminating the small shelter. Squinting so they don't realize I'm awake, I can see the intruders. I was correct in assuming they were both girls, but they are in fact the same age. My age. Fourteen years, I believe. One of them speaks.
"See. Right there. Flint and steel. I TOLD you so." I recognize her as the first voice. She has jet black hair, like ebony, and pale skin. She has a strange tattoo on her right arm, and I can't make out what it is through my slitted eyes. I moan and move my head up a bit, so as to look her in the eyes. I nearly jump up in surprise. Her eyes are grey, but not solid grey. It is a shade I can not describe. But the strangest thing is that the irises move. Not in the growing-shrinking way. I mean, the colours move around rapidly, almost like the wind might.
The other girl's face falls. "Well, maybe he just doesn't know yet," she says optimistically. Moving my gaze to her, I observe her. She has bright blond hair with two bright-blue streaks running through her bangs, one on each side. Her eyes, too, are startling. They are more of a blue, like water, and seem to flow like it, too. Both girls wear clothing made of fabric, unlike my tattered deerskin outfit. Blonde wears a long-sleeved pink shirt and blue pants made of an interesting material. The black-haired girl dons a black fabric shirt and thin deerskin pants. Curious.
The black-haired girl suddenly jumps back in surprise. "He's awake!" she calls out.
I bring my knife up to the blonde's throat. "Get. Out. Of. My. Shelter," I growl at them through gritted teeth. The blonde's face is flooded with fear, but her companion remains emotionless. With a casual flick of her hand, and a sudden gust of wind, my knife is sent flying into the oak. Before I can react, she reaches out with her hands again, and it feels like invisible hands have wrapped around my neck.
"I told you he wasn't one," she says to her friend.
I gasp for breath, grasping at my throat, as I feel the life draining from me. I look pleadingly at the blonde. She offers no help.
But suddenly our gazes meet. She gasps in surprise. "Gale! Stop it, you dimwit! Look at his eyes!"
Grey-eyes, or Gale, I guess, looks at me, and the choking stops as abruptly as it started. "My god..." she gasps. "He IS the one we were looking for."
Gale's friend looks at her matter-of-factly. I snort. "Will someone please explain what the hell is going on here?!" I shout, exasperated.
The blonde snaps back to reality. "Very sorry about our entrance. I'm Lilly. My comrade here is Gale," she says.
"James," I say bluntly. "That doesn't answer my question."
Gale sighs, obviously annoyed. "Look, we don't have time for this. Are you going to the Sanctuary or not?"
"What the hell is the Sanctuary?" I demand.
"Guh. He's useless. Let's go, Lilly."
"Wait, Gale! I think he might be the one. He has double marks, see?" Lilly protests. She turns to me. "Come with us. There's someone who would like to meet you." She doesn't even give me a chance to decide. Before I know it, I'm being dragged through the woods.
I am really starting to get annoyed with these two. "Will some one PLEASE tell me what is going on?!"
Gale stops. "Just follow us and stop freaking out, ok?" I shoot a quick glare at her, then look questioningly at Lilly.
"Well?" I press.
Lilly bites her lip. "Gale's right. Follow us and your questions will be answered. I promise."
I shake my head and roll my eyes. "Whatever." I say coldly.
We spend the next few hours trudging through the brush. Lilly and Gale chat amongst themselves but I don't speak a word to either of them. I swear, if my knife wasn't up to the handle in an oak tree, I'd have slashed both their throats right now, I'm so infuriated.
It is morning when we finally stop. Before us is a great stone wall. "We're here!" squeals Lilly. The girls high five each other.
"The wall is 'here'?" I ask skeptically.
Gale turns to me. "Ok, so I was wrong. It turns out this wasn't completely fruitless. You can see the wall, you're a double mark, and you have fire eyes. I'm sorry for doubting you and nearly strangling you."
"Great! So now, this stone wall that I possibly shouldn't see is going to answer my questions. Well, this day is certainly looking up!" I say, my words dripping with sarcasm.
Lilly rolls her eyes. "Seriously. Don't be an idiot. We have to get inside the wall."
"Well how do you do that?" I ask bluntly. "There is no door."
The girls sigh. "The wall is magic. It detects mark glow, and a hidden door opens, allowing only the bearer of that mark through," Gale explains. "All you have to do is cast a spell to make your marks glow, and your through. Like this." And with that, Gale waves her hand. A random breeze picks up, and the tattoo on her arm glows. Or arms, I should say. There is one on each, and I can now see that they are actually shaped like a drawing of wind.
Suddenly, a section of the mossy, cobblestone wall slides up without a sound. "See?" Gale exclaims. "Nothing to it! The gate will stay like that for 30 seconds, allowing me to pass only."
I reach out and touch the opening. It still feels like the cobblestone and my hand doesn't go through. "So how do I get in, then?"
"Easy!" Lilly says excitedly. "Just cast a spell!" She whispers something to Gale who nods excitedly.
I wave my hand like Gale did. Nothing happens.
Lilly walks over. "Here, roll up your sleeves so I can see your marks."
I do. As I slide up the deer skin sleeves, my two fire shaped birth marks become visible. "You mean my birth marks?"
Lilly shakes her head. "No, silly! Those are your magic marks! They are what connects you to magic and allows you to use it. Try again."
I do. Nothing. "I can't do it!" I yell.
The girls look puzzled. Lilly chews on her lip. Gale looks concentrated. I sit down on a rock.
Suddenly, Gale snaps her fingers. Then she turns to Lilly and whispers something to her. Lilly nods. Then Gale says aloud "Get away, Greg. Get out. Useless piece of bear crud." Her voice is coated in malice.
I take a step back, startled by the sudden hostility.
"Well? Go on! Get! Shoo!" Lilly yells. "Gale was right. This wasn't worth the trip."
My shock turns to sadness, which turns to pure rage. My fists clench and I grind my teeth, resisting the urge to pummel them.
"Ooh, look. He's gonna use his anger on us!" They say in mock fear. "I'm so afraid of his 'magic'!"
I stop resisting that urge. Screaming like a banshee, I run at them. They sidestep it, then glance at each other, fearfully. Suddenly, my arms tingle, then that tingling turns to tiny little needles, then more like knives. I don't let it bother me, though. Gale tried to strangle me, so I'll do the same to her, but I won't fail. But before I can get there, my whole body scrunches up, not on demand. I lie there, curled up in a ball on the forest floor, arms searing in pain. Gale looks joyous, but Lilly is concentrating very hard, as if waiting for something to happen.
Then something does. With an inhuman cry, a ring of fire shoots out of my body, travelling outwards and expanding with me at the centre. The blast fells and incinerates the nearby trees. Lilly, who I guess had seen this coming, puts up a watery shield. Her twin marks glow and I can see the door slide up. I stand up and, before I can strangle either of them, three things happen simultaneously: I notice my marks are glowing red, I hear the sound of stone sliding up against stone and find the gate has opened, for me I guess, and the girls high-five each other. Only then do I realize Gale's brilliance; she got my marks glowing. Gale glows her marks we all enter.